Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Dallas Banfield, Madeleine Howe, Ian Reed, Martin Tett, Irene Thompson and Mary Trevaillion.

There were none.

of the meeting held on 3^rd April 2008 to be confirmed as a correct record

The minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd April 2008 were confirmed as a correct record.

Verbal Update from Marcus Rogers

The Chairman welcomed Marcus Rogers, Interim Head of Planning and Environment to the meeting.  Marcus Rogers gave the Committee an overview of the progress of the growth programme for Aylesbury and Milton Keynes.  The following points were noted:

• Housing growth would be seen across Bucks, but especially within Aylesbury Vale, as part of the Milton Keynes/South Midlands growth area. 27,900 new homes would be built by 2026, with over 50% in Aylesbury town.  Population projections suggested this would lead to an increase of 48,500 people.
• Milton Keynes had 3 main sites proposed for growth – Whaddon Chase, Salden Chase and Newton Longville.  There was a memorandum of understanding with Milton Keynes that BCC would lead on any growth in Bucks.
• A number of hostile planning applications were anticipated shortly for a total of 10,500 dwellings across the county – all additional numbers to the earlier ones.
• AVDC were undertaking a public consultation from 31 October to 12 December, which included a number of public exhibitions in Aylesbury and the surrounding areas explaining the 3 options.
• The 3 options were as follows: Eastern Growth – between Watermead and Bierton, Broughton Crossing and an area between the A41 and A413 which was common to all 3 options. South Growth – between A41to A418 Oxford Road.  East-South arc – Broughton Crossing, smaller developments near Stoke Mandeville hospital and on the Oxford Road.
• BCC were working closely with AVDC on the evidence to support the growth options, including transport modelling and school place provision.
• BCC would make a response to the consultation and urged parishes and individuals to respond as well.
• A member questioned whether the large figures for housing growth would be achieved given the depressed state of the housing market.  Concerns were also expressed about the necessary infrastructure to support the housing growth.  In response Marcus Rogers commented that whilst it was recognised that the housing market was depressed it was envisaged that by 2012-13 Bucks would be catching up on housing growth.  If there was a change of government, additional housing would still be required in the South East.
• With regards to infrastructure a lot of work had been undertaken on each of the 3 options for Aylesbury.  The anticipated cost was similar for all 3 options at approximately £300m.  The majority of this would be funded by developers.  It was vital that adequate infrastructure was developed at the right time.  Employment opportunities in Aylesbury were needed as well as the housing growth and transport issues needed to be considered.  A member expressed concerns about increased traffic flow between Aylesbury and High Wycombe.  Marcus Rogers explained that due to planning restrictions in the AONB road improvements might not be possible.  Enhanced rail or public transport could be a viable alternative.
• In response to a question on the minimum requirements for housing growth, Marcus Rogers advised that to date the Regional Assembly had been describing the housing figures as ‘a target’ but this has recently been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Progress report from Malcolm Godwin

The Chairman welcomed Malcolm Godwin, Rural Towns Coordinator to the meeting.  Members had received an update report in the agenda papers and Malcolm invited any questions.  The following points were noted:

• Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford were both progressing well.
• A new RASP contract had been negotiated with SEEDA which would bring in £100,000 per annum over the next three years.
• There were 2 or 3 projects underway which were being led by Bucks Community Action which included transport to hospitals and a Wheels to Work scheme, which provided bikes and mopeds to young people to help them to access work or higher education.
• The South East Rural Towns Partnership recently produced a brochure highlighting the success of some SEEDA projects. This featured Buckingham and Princes Risborough.  Malcolm Godwin was asked to send copies of the brochure to BALC.

Action: Malcolm Godwin

The Chairman thanked Malcolm for attending the meeting and reminded members that the Market Town Programme was already halfway through its cycle.

Rebecca Carley

The Chairman welcomed Steve Orchard and Rebecca Carley, the newly appointed Locality Services Manager to the meeting.  Steve Orchard and Rebecca Carley reported that a detailed analysis of attendance at the first round of Local Area Forum (LAF) meetings had been undertaken and the GC2C team were now working on ideas of how BCC can work more closely with parish councils.  It was proposed that a more detailed list would come to the Committee’s next meeting for discussion, but some initial ideas included bulk purchasing of energy, parishes could possibly buy into the BCC streetlight maintenance contract and a Parish Consultation Portal was due to go live in January 2009. 

With regards to the first round of LAF meetings, 11 LAFs were established across Aylesbury Vale and Wycombe district areas.  138 parishes were invited to attend these 11 LAFs and 70 were in attendance.  The initial impressions were of positive participation from parish councils.  It was recognised that there needed to be greater links between the LAFs and Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs) and in Wycombe, district colleagues were working on these links under Pathfinder, with level1,2 and 3 meetings.

A number of members commented that they felt the LAFs were well-attended and working quite well.  There was some confusion between what constituted a Level1,2 or 3 meeting and there was some concern that there might be more meetings for the same people to attend, which might not be sustainable in the longer term.  Members suggested that there was a need for the NAGs and LAFs to become co-terminus and it was noted that there seemed to be no consistent approach across the county. 

There was also some concern about the involvement of local residents in the meetings, as they were unelected and not subject to any code of conduct.  Some parishes were concerned about a lack of parish representatives at some LAFs.  Rebecca Carley pointed out that the philosophy behind participatory budgeting was that members of the local community should set priorities for spending, rather than elected members.  A pilot project for participatory budgeting was being undertaken in High Wycombe, in conjunction with Wycombe District Council.

The Chairman emphasised that BCC wanted the LAFs to evolve in their own way.  The aim of the LAFs was to reach the grass roots and each LAF would define its own membership and its own agenda. 

Chris Williams, BCC Chief Executive, informed the Committee that the funding for participatory budgeting was over and above the £500,000 which had previously been allocated to Local Committees and it did not have to be spent on transport schemes.  Chris Williams had asked all Heads of Service to identify other service funding which could be devolved down to LAFs, to enable county, district and parish councillors and residents to identify local priorities. 

Chris Williams also advised that the feedback he had received from NAGs across Bucks, indicated that three common issues existed.  These were young people and anti-social behaviour, fear of crime/community safety and speeding issues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

There was none.

Suggested date for next meeting – Wednesday 8^th April 2009 at 2.30pm

Wednesday 8 April 2009 at 2.30pm in Mezzanine Room 1